ENews -April 18th, 2007 - Celebrate Eath Day

The bright colors of fresh greens are one of the best indicators that spring has arrived. The crisp flavors of mâche, arugula, watercress, sorrel, mustard, nettles and the many other unusual greens you can find at the market this spring should be enough to wake you from your winter doldrums.

Loaded with vitamins A and C, iron and calcium, these nutritional powerhouses are considered “tonic” greens – often used as medicine in Asian cultures to cleanse the blood and cool one’s system. Look for tender, young leaves with no yellowing. They’re best stored in the refrigerator, slightly damp, in an open or perforated bag. For optimum flavor and to preserve vitamin content, be sure to use them within a couple of days.

River Run Farm, our beloved organic beef vendor, will re-join the market in the fall. Visit their website for additional information. www.riverrunfarm.com.

Bakery favorites Baker & Spice and Ken’s Artisan Bakery join us 5/5/07.

Tasty at-market meals from Pine State Biscuit and Hot Lips Pizza will be available beginning 5/5/07.

Bay Street Crab Company, better known as Bill the Salmon Man, hopes to return on 5/5/07.

Columbia River Treaty Fish: Tony says, the season should open this week and we can expect him at market very soon.

Green & Green Salad Company is not returning to PFM this season - they are opening their own retail store! Visit their blog for the latest details.

Winter floods in Tillamook have delayed the arrival of artichokes at the market. We hope to have artichokes from DeNoble’s at the beginning of June.

Please understand that the business of farming is subject to the elements. This information was current at the time of press but - just like the weather, is subject to change!

Earth Day, reminds us to pause and reflect on the Earth's offerings. There's no better place than the Portland Farmers Market to honor the blessings of soil and sea that our local farmers, growers and fisherman bring to the downtown park blocks each Saturday. To add to the celebratory nature of Earth Day, Organic Valley Family of Farms will donate decks of their Earth Dinner Creativity Cards to the first 100 shoppers who stop by the market information booth on Saturday, April 21.

The 49-card deck, written by award-winning author Douglas Love, is a playful, thoughtful collection of questions, facts and thought-provokers -- to encourage conversations about food -- what it means to you, where it comes from and how did it get here?

The cards are part and parcel of a three-year-old Organic Valley tradition called the Earth Dinner -- a tradition of combining friends and family with equal parts seasonal foods and good conversation, in the hopes of deepening our connection to growers, ranchers, the Earth and the greater community.

Pull together your own Earth Dinner with a shopping bag full of local, organic produce from the market, some friends and family, and your ready-made conversation piece -- Earth Dinner Creativity Cards. It's that simple.

For more information go to www.earthdinner.org.

Schedule of Activities: Saturday April 21

9 am – 1 pm: Pick up a sample container of ladybugs for your garden, free while supplies last. Learn about how beneficial ladybugs are to the garden from the March Biological folks. www.marchbiological.com

10 am: Lucy Hardiman of Perennial Partners, one of Portland’s premier garden designers and writers, demonstrates, “Voluptuous Vignettes: Edible, Durable & Fashionable.” Take home tips on how to create colorful pockets of joy in your own garden.

11 am: Yummy! Free carrot cake from Baker and Spice, as long as it lasts, served by costumed characters Betty Berry and Carrot-Top.

ALL DAY: The Portland Garden Club hosts a Free Potting Station at the Community Information Booth. Bring an empty container or use one of ours to pot plants and flowers purchased at the Market.

10 am: Garden talks at the Market features Vern Nelson of A New Leaf Edible Landscaping discussing, “Growing Rare and Unusual Edibles: Kitchen Prep & Use”. Vern is a columnist for The Oregonian’s Homes and Gardens of the Northwest. He’ll teach you all you need to know about kitchen preparations and uses for these unusual finds.

ALL DAY: This week, the Free Potting Station is hosted by Growing Gardens. www.growing-gardens.org

Who says farming can’t be romantic? Chris Roehm and Amy Benson, co-owners of Square Peg farm in Forest Grove, Oregon, met when Amy, working at Muddy Wheel Farm, hired Chris as the summer apprentice, while he was in the midst of a search for a new career. Over the course of the 2002 summer, Chris became enamored with both Amy and farming. Thus a new career and relationship blossomed.

They formally joined forces in 2004 with Benson bringing years of experience as a CSA manager and Roehm providing the land and working farm to create Square Peg, their 40-acre parcel. Here they grow garden variety vegetables, apples, strawberries, blueberries, as well as raise hens and hogs. Yields from their farm go to their CSA shareholders and the remaining produce gets packed up and makes the trip to Portland for their weekly market visit.

Community Supported Agriculture represents an authentic link between urban consumer and rural grower. Supporters or harvest shareholders provide up-front money or in-kind support to cover the farm’s operating costs – seeds, labor, growing supplies and soil amendments. In return, the farm guarantees (barring Nature’s caprice) to provide regular baskets or boxes of seasonal food to its shareholders. Together they share in the inherent risk of farming and, of course, its intrinsic rewards.

The financial burden of small farmers is lifted in this arrangement. Because shareholders experience a friendly, engaged relationship with the grower and the land, purchasing food becomes more than just a monetary exchange.

Portland Area CSA Coalition www.pacsac.org offers a list of area farms that produce food in an ecologically friendly way. They suggest doing your homework when choosing a CSA for you and your family:

• Call the various farmers, read their materials and ask questions!
• Visit the farm, but call first to honor their schedules.
• Pay attention to particulars regarding your household set-up
(how big is share? Distribution or delivery dates and locations, length of season and produce availability)
• Ask about the extras? (Newsletters, recipes, farm visits, special events)

For a complete list of
Portland Farmers Market vendors who also operate CSA’s
Please click here

Helena, Montana, native Jaret Foster rejoins the Portland Farmers Market in 2007, stepping up as the new Senior Market Manager. He previously worked as Site Manager of the PSU and Eastbank Markets. He will be taking over the duties of Hallie Mittleman, who has been the Senior Market Manager since 2004.

Remember last winter when you craved a fresh tomato sauce for your pasta or a tumble of berries to top off a custard tart? And there were none to be had because, oops! You didn’t save any of last year’s produce. Don’t let that happen this year. Take a class at Preserve, where you will learn how to turn berries into jam, preserves, and syrups; tomatoes into fresh sauce; and cucumbers, beets and carrots into pickles. You can also find out how to successfully dry food and store it for winter.

Preserve founders, Marjorie Braker and Harriet Fasenfest, bring 25 years of accumulated food science and entrepreneurial skills to the classroom to revive the important knowledge of home food preservation. For more information go to www.portlandpreserve.com or call 503-542-4338.

Created to help better educate the public about the importance of agriculture, this two-day, hands-on festival shows children and adults everything from where their food comes from, to how sheep are raised for wool clothing, to the importance of forests for our ecology and survival. Visitors come from all over the state to have fun while learning about Oregon’s largest industry. Kids 12 and under get in free! Find out more at www.oragfest.com.

This new website, based right here in Portland, aims to build “a place for those who want to eat better and connections between food, community and the wider world.” You can access recipes and articles, discussions about food policy and books – the many ways food intersects with the rest of our lives. Go online and get the scoop: www.culinate.com.